Cleobulina (Κλεοβουλίνη) was a Greek poet from Lindus on Rhodes, active in the sixth century BCE. She was the daughter of Cleobulus, one of the Seven Sages and tyrant of Lindus [1][2]. Beyond this familial association, no further biographical details are recorded.

Her literary output consisted of riddles (αἰνίγματα) composed in hexameter verse [1][2]. No complete poems survive. Aristotle, in his Poetics, cites “Cleobulina’s riddles” as an example of a literary technique involving letter changes, quoting the line: “I saw a man who welded bronze on another with fire,” likely a riddle about cupping [3]. A one-line riddle about the year is also tentatively attributed to her [4].

Cleobulina is significant as one of the few named female poets from archaic Greece. Her work places her within the tradition of wisdom literature associated with the Seven Sages, and Aristotle’s reference demonstrates her riddles were studied as formal literary constructs [3]. Her legacy illustrates the limited avenues through which women could gain recognition in contemporary intellectual culture.

Sources 1. Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers (Perseus Digital Library): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0258:book=1:chapter=6&highlight=cleobuline 2. Suda Encyclopedia (ToposText): https://topostext.org/work/529#ku.1725 3. Aristotle, Poetics (Perseus Digital Library): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Poet.+1458a&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0056 4. Diogenianus, Paroemiographi Graeci (World History Encyclopedia): https://www.worldhistory.org/Cleobulina/